Smoke-free Celebration!

Cigarette smoking accounts for about 443,000 premature deaths - including 49,400 in nonsmokers. Today, the Coastal Health District and the West Broad Street YMCA want to help more people reach their next birthday by encouraging them to stop smoking.

Today, from 4 - 5:30, the the Coastal Health District will be throwing a "Smoke-free Birthday Bash" at the West Broad Street YMCA. Activities will include party hat construction, smoke-free games, a healthy cupcake baking demonstration, cupcake decorating, and blowing out the candles in honor of living another year in a smoke-free life.

Coastal Health District Adolescent Health & Youth Development Coordinator, Christina Bolton, says the goal is to throw a birthday party so fun and unforgettable that kids will remember the importance of not crumbling under pressure when asked to smoke.

The American Cancer Society will mark the 34th Great American Smoke-out today by encouraging smokers to use the date to make a plan to quit, or to plan in advance and quit smoking. By doing so, smokers will be taking an important step towards a healthier life - one that can lead to reducing cancer risk and creating more birthdays.

Researchers say that quitting smoking can increase life expectancy. Smokers who quit at age 35 gain an average of eight years of life expectancy; those who quit at age 55 gain about five years; and even long-term smokers who quit at 65 gain three years.

Research also shows that people who stop smoking before age 50 can cut their risk of dying in the next 15 years in half compared with those who continue to smoke. Smokers who quit also reduce their risk of lung cancer. Ten years after quitting, the lung cancer death rate is about half that of a continuing smoker's.

The Great American Smokeout Web site (www.cancer.org/GreatAmericans) http://www.cancer.org/docroot/subsite/greatamericans/Smokeout.asp contains user-friendly tips and tools towards a smoke-free life.

Important facts about tobacco use:
· Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in the U.S.
· Cigarette smoking accounts for about 443,000 premature deaths - including 49,400 in nonsmokers.
· Thirty percent of cancer deaths, including 87 percent of lung cancer deaths, can be attributed to tobacco.
· Smoking also accounts for $193 billion in health care expenditures and productivity losses.
· Great progress is being made in reducing tobacco use in the U.S., with adult smoking rates in 2007 declining among all adults to 19.8 percent.